Are you aware of the Short Haul Provisions in the
FMCSA Hours of Service Regulation in CFR 395?

If you operate a commercial vehicle that does not
require a CDL license your drivers can utilize a provision to the
regulations to allow them to keep time records in lieu of a grid
log. This applies to drivers who operate within a 150
mile air radius (172 ground or statute miles) of the terminal
location and meets the requirements of the regulations below.
Drivers of units that require a CDL also can take advantage of a
100 air mile radius (115 ground or statute miles) provision that
allows them to keep time records in lieu of a grid log.

So what is the advantage
of using the short haul provisions?

To the driver it allows
them to complete the day's work without keeping a log book current
to the last change of duty status. For a driver that has
numerous pickups and drops this can be tedious and subjects the
driver to log book violations if supporting documentation such as
delivery receipts, fuel receipts and other supporting documentation
does not match the log.

The company benefits by
not being subject to false log violations during a compliance
review audit as long as the supporting documentation generated by
the driver falls in between the time the driver starts their tour
of duty and the end there is no false log violation.

In the new proposed Electronic Logging Device (ELD) regulation that
should become final next year there is an exemption for Short Haul
operations. This would mean that drivers exempt from log
books (100-mile or 150-mile radius, 12 hour drivers) are exempt
from ELD rule Exempt drivers may use paper logs when they
exceed limits of exemption, as long as they do not exceed the
limits more than 8 times in any rolling 30-day period. Exempt
drivers must still maintain supporting documents for on-duty, not
driving periods.

Short-Haul Provision for NON-CDL CMV Drivers

Drivers of property-carrying commercial motor vehicles
that do not require a CDL for operation and operate
within a 150 air-mile radius of their normal work reporting
location:

On any 2 days of every 7
consecutive days, the driver may extend the 14-hour duty period to
16 hours.

There is no requirement
that the driver be released from duty at the end of the 14- or
16-hour duty periods. The driver may continue to perform
non-driving duties, which would be counted against the 60/70 hour
weekly limitation.

Time records may be used in lieu of records of duty
status
Drivers who use this short-haul provision are not eligible to use
100 air-mile provision 395.1(e) or the current 16-hour
exception in 395.1 (o).

Short-Haul Provision for CDL Required CMV
Drivers

Drivers of property-carrying commercial motor vehicles
that require a CDL for operation and operate within a 100 air-mile
radius of their normal work reporting location:

The
driver operates within a 100 air-mile (115 statute/ground
miles) radius of the normal work reporting location, and

The
driver returns to the work reporting location and be released
from duty within 12 consecutive hours, and

The
driver maintains time records as specified in the rule, and

The
driver is not covered by the "non-CDL 150 air-mile
radius" provision

For both of these
provisions the driver/carrier must maintain and retain for a period
of 6 months accurate and true time records showing:

The
time the driver reports for duty each day;

The
total number of hours the driver is on duty each day;

The
time the driver is released from duty each day; and

The
total time for the preceding 7 days in accordance with
395.8(j)(2) for drivers used for the first time or
intermittently.

DOT Denies Industry Request to take CSA Scores
Offline

In a letter dated
October 30,2014 Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx has denied
a request from the
trucking industry to remove all CSA scores from public view.
NPTC recently joined the American Trucking Associations and a dozen
other trade associations in an August 22, 2014 request to Secretary
Foxx to remove the CSA scores from public view on the agency's website,
as the data is not sufficiently comprehensive or reliable, but is
being used by shippers, insurers and the courts in a manner not
intended by the FMCSA.

Secretary's Foxx's
response confirms the department's intent to keep the scores public
and goes on to say that DOT disagrees with the finding of the
Government Accountability Office that scores are unreliable
indicators of future crash risk. Moreover, it sidesteps
discussing the reliability of scores by focusing on the benefits of
using them for enforcement prioritization.

As a result, the industry
will continue to support a bill introduced by Rep. Lou Barletta
(R-PA), a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
of the U.S. House of Representatives, that would bar the FMCSA from
making motor carrier's safety scores and rankings publicly
available under the CSA program until the agency submits a report
to Congress on its efforts to improve the CSA system.

H.R. 5532, the
Safer Trucks and Buses Act of 2014, would ensure that covered motor
carrier data is not made available to the public. In
addition, such data could not be admitted into evidence or
otherwise used in any lawsuit or other civil action for damages
resulting from an incident involving a motor carrier.
"Covered motor carrier data" is defined to mean data
generated with respect to a motor carrier under CSA, including any
ranking, rating, score, or other measurement.

The bill also requires the
FMCSA to submit a study to Congress within one year on
recommendations to improve CSA, including how the program:

utilizes
and generates only safety data and scores, including Safety
Measurement System scores, determined to be predictive of
motor carrier accidents;

appropriately
addresses concerns relating to the age of utilized safety
data, including violations;

does
not unfairly harm small motor carriers as a result of limited
safety data availability;

by
appropriately addressing variations between State- and
self-reported data;

by
accounting for geographic disparities with respect to
enforcement; and

by
utilizing only crash data from crashes with respect to which
a motor carrier was at fault.

November
14, 2014

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OMB CLEARS ADVANCE NPRM ON MINIMUM FINANCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY

The Office of
Management and Budget has approved the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration's Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Minimum
Financial Responsibility requirements for motor carriers, including
hazardous materials carriers. This will allow the ANPRM to be
published in the Federal Register in the very near future.
The ANPRM will solicit comments on the need to increase the
liability minimums, but will not contain a specific regulatory
proposal.

In April 2014, the FMCSA released the findings of its report
to Congress on the adequacy of the minimum financial responsibility
standards for for-hire motor carriers and hazardous materials
transporters. The report concludes that these liability
requirements, which have not changed since 1985, are overdue for
revision.

The Idealease
Safety Bulletin is provided for Idealease affiliates and their
customers and is not to be construed as a complete or exhaustive source
of compliance or safety information. The Idealease Safety Bulletin
is advisory in nature and does not warrant, guarantee, or otherwise
certify compliance with laws, regulations, requirements,
or guidelines of any local, state, or Federal agency and/or
governing body, or industry standards.